


Probabilities

by TheIronMechanic



Series: Pepperony, Pepperony and more Pepperony [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Iron Man 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23821630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIronMechanic/pseuds/TheIronMechanic
Summary: “It’s not-“ she sights “We both know how you are, with girls, with relationships.” Anger starts clearly showing up on his face “If we are being realistic, the probabilities of us actually working out are of a 15 to 20%-““No, no.” He turns, his back to her, his feet on the ground and his head on his hands. “You can’t-“ He sights, his throat burning up, tears on his eyes, aching to fall. “You can’t say that. You can’t tell me that after what we just did.” He’s met by silence. “Please, just don’t make me regret this. Not this.”
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Pepperony, Pepperony and more Pepperony [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716382
Comments: 11
Kudos: 59





	Probabilities

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this, I came up with this story this morning and I had to write it, so here you have it!
> 
> As always, English si not my first language, so all mistakes are mine.

Tony Stark has never felt so relaxed in his life, it’s like he’s floating through clouds. He still can’t believe it happened. It all felt too surreal, too perfect to be true, but as he turns his head to the side and sees her beautiful ginger hair spread on the pillow, the reality of it all comes back to him.

It was all true, it wasn’t a dream. He had _finally_ had the guts to kiss Pepper Potts, he had finally spent the night with the girl of his dreams. ‘ _She’s beautiful, God._ ’ Her eyes open slowly, a small grin on her face.

“Hey” Her voice takes him out of his thoughts.

“Hey you.” He kisses her lips softly, because yeah, he can do that now. “Good morning” Once he starts, he can’t stop, his lips trace every possible surface of her face, moving to her neck, making her let out a sight of content.

“Tony” She puts a hand on his hair, running her fingers through it. “Tony, stop.” He comes to a halt, looking up, his brown eyes fixed on hers. “Don’t start something we won’t be able to finish.”

“We won’t?” He frowns slightly.

“It’s almost 9am, we have a meeting to discuss the disaster of the Expo at 10am. Remember?” She whispers softly, her voice still a bit raw from sleep.

“Do we really have to go?” He lays back down, his head on the pillow, looking at the ceiling. “We should take a few days off.”

“And I agree, but after all this is settled.” She runs a hand over her face, yawning.

“Well, if we do go, just be warned that after last night, I might not be able to fully control myself” He whispers, turning his head to look at her, waiting for an answer. He doesn’t get any, not even a look his way.

“Tony. We, uhm, we can’t let anyone find out about this. About us.” His eyebrows shot up, surprise written all over his face.

“What? Not even Rhodey?”

“No, Tony… I just became the CEO, if they find out that we slept together, people might think that I somehow slept my way to the top. I just-“

“Wait wait wait. I get not telling the world about us yet, but our friends?”

“We shouldn’t get their hopes up Tony, they-“

“Their hopes up? What do you mean by that?” He asks with disbelief.

“It’s not-“ she sights “We both know how you are, with girls, with relationships.” Anger starts clearly showing up on his face “If we are being realistic, the probabilities of us actually working out are of a 15 to 20%-“

“Probabilities?” He sits up abruptly. “Are you serious right now? We are not numbers Pepper, you can’t know if we will work out by probabilities!”

“Tony-“

“No, no.” He turns, his back to her, his feet on the ground and his head on his hands. “You can’t-“ He sights, his throat burning up, tears on his eyes, aching to fall. “You can’t say that. You can’t tell me that after what we just did.” He’s met by silence. “Please, just don’t make me regret this. Not this.”

“I don’t want you to regret it, I just feel like-“ She sights.

“Like what? Like it should be a one time thing?”

“No-“

“Like we shouldn’t be anything more than friends who have sex from time to time?” He turns his head to look at her, who has her hands on her face. “Well, _that’s_ not going to work out. At least not for me.”

“But I thought this was what you-“

“This was not what I wanted Pepper! Not by the slightest.” He’s infuriated and she can tell, which frustrates her. Everything feels like a mess. Did they really mess up?

“Well, I wouldn’t be able to tell now would I?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You _never_ talk about your feelings! How would I know if you wanted something if you never said anything to me!” She yells, siting up on the bed.

“I tried to! But I’m not good at it, I’ve never done this before-“

“Which is my point exactly! If we start something, it might blow up on our faces. That will ruin our friendship, everything that we have.” He turns around, standing up.

“That’s already ruined.” He picks up his clothes from the floor. “I’m going to take a shower.” He walks away.

* * *

When he gets out of the bathroom, he doesn’t even go back to his bedroom, not wanting to confront Pepper. He doesn’t have the energy to argue anymore. Instead, he goes to the kitchen, takes a smoothie from the fridge and goes outside, where Happy is waiting for him seated on the hood of the car.

“Let’s go.” He puts his sunglasses on and walks straight to the car.

“Didn’t Pepper stay the night here?” Happy asks surprised.

“Yeah, but she will take one of the cars herself.” He gets in the car, not letting Happy say anything else. Before the driver gets in, he closes the window between the driver’s seat and the back. He needs some peace and quiet.

The drive from his house and the company goes by faster than he thought it would and before he knows it, they have arrived at their destination. He gets out of the car and starts walking, not acknowledging his friend until he stops him with his hand.

“Did something happen?” The driver takes off his sunglasses, staring at his boss and friend.

“Nothing happened Happy.”

“Tony Stark, if you hurt Pepper I swear to God-“

“If I hurt her?” He laughs bitterly. “What about you give this little speech to her? Because the reality is that _she_ hurt _me_.” He frees his arm from his friend’s grip.

“What?”

“Ask her. Because according to her, the probabilities of us working out are around uhm, what did she say?” He puts his hand on his chin sarcastically “Oh yeah! 15 to 20%!” He walks away.

* * *

His brain doesn’t shut up, not even a second, as he walks to the meeting room. He opens the door and sees everyone already seated and waiting for him. Everyone but Pepper, who is nowhere to be found.

“Okay, let’s make this quick. Ms. Potts will not be able to come today, so you’ll talk to me.”

The meeting doesn’t last too long, after 20 minutes of demands from some executives, he agrees to all of them, not wanting to waste any more time. He shakes one of the men’s hand, sealing the deal, a fake smile on his face. As he thanks everyone for coming, Bambi, Pepper’s assistant, comes in.

“Mr. Stark, there’s someone here for you.” He nods, saying goodbye to everyone and walking out, following Bambi to another meeting room. Next to the window, there she stands, her back to him.

“Thank you Bambi, you can leave.” She nods and walks out, closing the door behind her. He walks to the end of the table closest to the window, sitting on the edge of it. “What are you doing here Pepper?” She doesn’t answer right away, an uncomfortable silence around them.

“I really don’t know.” She sights, turning around, resting her body on the window. “And I also don’t know what I want. Which makes me mad, because I _always_ know what I want.” She crosses her arms and looks down, not daring to meet his eyes.

“Well, there’s always a first time for everything.”

“Yeah, I guess.” A few moments pass before she continues “You were right.” She looks up and sees him with raised eyebrows. “Our relationship is ruined either we go for it or we don’t, and I hate it. I would want for everything to go back to normal,” he drops his head, looking to the ground “but that’s impossible, so I have to adapt.”

“Where are you going with this Pepper?”

“Give me a reason. Something to reassure me that the man that I’ve known for almost 15 years has changed. That you can be in a relationship, that you are determined to make this work.” At that, he looks up, eyes wide open. After a minute of silence, she sights, shaking her head. She gets up and starts walking away, but as she walks by him, Tony grabs her arm and stands up, determined.

“You want a reason?” She nods softly. “Let me give you one.” He slides his fingers down her arms until they reach her hands, grabbing them. “I-“ he sights “I love you.” He closes her eyes, not daring to look at her. “I really do, I’ve loved you for years, I just didn’t have the guts to accept it myself. But now I know for sure that I love you.”

She feels weak on her knees, she feels like she might just fall down. He loves her. _He loves her_. The man she’s been in love for so long, _loves her_. It’s actually real. They _might_ have a shot at this. She had been so stupid. She had let him down. She needed to fix it, so she did the first thing that she felt like doing. She pulled him in and kissed him with everything she had, everything she felt.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.” She leaves light kisses on his lips, but when he puts his hands on her face, he deepens them, making her sight and even weaker on her knees than she was before.

“So does that mean we might actually have a shot?” She smiles, making him smile even bigger.

“I guess it does.” He kisses her once again.

“Let’s go have lunch. You and me together. No Happy, no Rhodey, no business men. Just you and me.”

“Like a date?”

“Exactly like a date. If you wan to of course.” He grabs his hands from her face, pulling them down and caressing them.

“I would love to Mr. Stark.” She starts to walk away, one of her hands still in his. “Let me just go to the bathroom real quick. Then you take me to eat the best burgers in town.” He nods, a smile from ear to ear. She lets him go, opening the door, turning around before she leaves. “And that percentage I told you about? It has been bumped to at least 60% now, so you better keep working at it.” She winks at him, walking out, her heels resonating around the room.

“That’s not how probabilities work!” He says smiling. ‘ _This woman is going to be the death of me. But oh, if it isn’t worth it._ ’

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! This is how I somehow envision what happened after Iron Man 2.
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments, they help a lot!


End file.
